Mr. Mercedes recap: ‘Motherboard’

Up until now, Brady Hartsfield’s telepathic provocations have managed to fly under the radar. But in the wake of Sadie’s suicide at the end of the last episode, people are starting to get suspicious. They don’t know what exactly is going on, but they know something must be.

The neurosurgeon Felix Babineau is mostly worried that whatever’s going on might expose his unethical use of experimental medicine on Brady. He tells Nurse Maggie to be careful showing Bill around, given the “confidential” nature of their medical treatment. He even threatens her a bit. As this season goes on, I’m sure we’ll find out exactly how Babineau’s experimental drug treatment granted Brady his newfound telepathic powers. Maybe it was made with the brain cells of twins since that’s how telepathy works in Stephen King’s other series The Dark Tower, but I’m totally content only seeing him for a couple minutes at a time each episode. He’s not a very interesting character, and I feel like he’s probably already played his part by giving Brady that drug. Now it’s just a countdown until he gets found out.

Assistant District Attorney Antonio Montez, however, is a fascinating addition to the show. You may remember him from this season’s absolutely bonkers second episode when he sexually assaulted Brady in an attempt to provoke a reaction and prove he was cognitive. That didn’t work, so now Montez is focusing his attention on Bill. He introduces himself at the crime scene by Sadie’s body, but that’s not the end of it. Later, he literally shows up at Bill’s house, hoping that both of them can just sit down together and tell each other what they know. As Montez sees it, Bill was instrumental in bringing down Brady, but also held back crucial information while working the case. As soon as Montez investigates Bill’s office, however, it’s apparent why Bill likes to withhold information. Montez freaks out at Bill’s Carcosa wall of conspiracy theories. Bill plays it off calmly, but it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of room for collaboration between him and Montez. No surprise there! By the way, once you’ve groped a comatose murderer, I don’t think you get to call anyone else “crazy” or “obsessed.”

Brady, of course, is still the craziest one of all. Last week he was talking with his kid brother inside his mind palace, and this week his old manager Frobisher shows up to chat. This makes me suspect Brady’s victims will continue to appear inside his telepathic man-cave throughout the rest of the season. It’s probably only a matter of time until dear old mom appears. Who knows what he’ll do then…

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